Food and beverages startup Curefoods, founded by former senior Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori, has begun discussions to hire investment banks and law firms for its initial public offering (IPO), people aware of the matter have told Moneycontrol.
The company recently met with a bunch of bankers and lawyers for an IPO mandate, the sources said, adding the advisers are likely to be finalised over the next few weeks.
The Accel-backed startup could raise $300-400 million in the proposed offer, which is likely to hit the markets in the latter part of the new financial year, which begins April 1, the sources said.
The size of the IPO has not yet finalised and would eventually depend on the quantum of secondary share sales by existing investors, they said.
The company has attracted investments from Accel, Iron Pillar, Chiratae Ventures, Sixteenth Street Capital, Three State Ventures and Nordstar among others.
Curefoods declined to comment on the development.
The startup has been expanding operations by bringing Frozen Bottle and other brands into its fold, along with its existing portfolio of brands such as EatFit, Cakezone, Nomad Pizza and Sharief Bhai Biryani.
Overall, it has more than 500 cloud kitchens and offline stores that cater to over 10 types of cuisines across 40 cities in India.
On December 31, the startup announced an agreement with the Landmark Group to acquire operations of Krispy Kreme, the popular doughnut brand, in south and west India.
While the agreement allows Curefoods to run and operate Krispy Kreme in the south and west, Curefoods is also in discussions to expand operations to the north and the east over the coming months, Nagori told Moneycontrol in an interview on December 31
Krispy Kreme, under Curefoods, has over 50 touchpoints and plans to expand to more than 350 additional points of access over the next five years.
Curefoods financials
The company’s consolidated revenue grew to Rs 585 crore in FY24, up 53 percent from the previous financial year, the company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies show. Curefoods expects to close FY25 with an annual revenue run-rate of around Rs 1,000 crore, media reports have said.
The startup reduced its consolidated loss to Rs 172.6 crore in FY24 from Rs 342.7 crore, data shows.
Tech IPOs in 2025
Several technology startups are planning to go public in 2025, driven by revival in investor interest in tech stocks and a strong IPO market.
Moneycontrol reported on January 9 that eyewear startup Lenskart has called investment banks to pitch for the mandate for its potential IPO, which could see the company raise $1 billion.
On January 24, Moneycontrol reported that stock broker Groww had picked five investment banks for a $1-billion IPO.
Startups such as contract manufacturer Zetwek, SoftBank-backed OfBusiness, and fintech unicorn Pine Labs are each looking to raise $1 billion via IPOs in the near future.
As many as 25 startups are looking to make stock market debuts in 2025. This includes firms like quick commerce leader Zepto, construction materials platform Infra.market, AI unicorn Fractal and edtech startup PhysicsWallah, all of which are targeting IPOs around the $500-million range.
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